Wednesday, October 26, 2011

It's not easy to classify Ann Spangler's book "The Peace That God Promises". It's not a how-to book, though the author shares practical advice. It's not a self-help book, though it provides counsel on living well. It's not a Bible study, though it's filled with insights and verses from Scripture.

What Spangler has written is an insightful and intelligent guide to be read, highlighted, discussed, and read again.

Spangler opens the book with two concepts culled from her own personal study, namely that the stories we tell ourselves have an effect on the peace we experience in our lives and how we choose to remember our lives--and whether we're truthful with ourselves-- has an impact on our sense of peace.

If our lives are filled with falsehood, we have difficulty finding and experiencing peace. Each chapter addresses one aspect of finding peace and Spangler encourages the reader to develop and nurture a peace-filled life through many avenues:
* Forgiving enemies
* Following Christ
* Repentance
* Learning to live in community with others
* Practicing simplicity
* Eliminating hurry
* Observing a day of rest
* Cultivating a life of prayer
* Being mindful of what we say and how we say it

This would be an excellent book for individual or group study. It would also make an appropriate gift for a friend or family member struggling with anxiety. Contains questions to use for individual journaling or discussion in a reading group.

I received a free copy of this book to review through the Amazon Vine program.

John 14:6 (NIV)

About Me

Karen Wilber lives in the Tampa Bay area with her husband and their two active boys. She is a former librarian, and corporate trainer, who now works as a reading teacher. She has a love of storytelling, particularly stories of faith.
Writing projects include "The Character of God in the Book of Ruth: Traditional Rabbinic and Current Evangelical Interpretations", completed for an MA in Biblical Studies from St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, an unpublished Bible study on the Book of Ruth, and various online and print magazine articles. She is a member of FaithWriters.